The announcement comes a few days after the Victoria Police Department warned the public of fraud related to coronavirus, or COVID-19, based on a bulletin from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

The bulletin says a number of COVID-19 related scams have started popping up in other countries and may spread to our communities.

Examples of scams include private companies offering quick COVID-19 tests and consumers purchasing large amounts of products – that could be expired or of low quality – and reselling them. Only hospitals are authorized to perform tests for the virus.

The CAFC warns the public to look out for high priced or low quality products. They also say to look out for unsolicited medical advisory emails with links or attachments, as fraudsters might spoof information from government and health care organizations.